North Carolina A&T Holds Off Rhode Island 22-18 Despite Being Outgained
Take away one play and Rhode Island wins this game. That play was Tyrek Brown's 69-yard fumble return for a touchdown early in the third quarter, which put North Carolina A&T up 22-3. Subtract the seven points and it is 18-15 Rams. Instead it finished 22-18 for the Aggies, who never trailed and never even saw a tie.
The first half belonged to the kicker. Asher Holland made field goals from 41, 31 and 21 yards, the last one with two seconds left before the break, and Kevin White ran in a 2-yard touchdown in between (the extra point failed). That made it 15-3 at the half. Rhode Island's only first-half points were a 45-yard Josh Hamel field goal.
The Rams came back in the second half. Gabe Winowich scored from 2 yards out and Alex McClelland found Will Dixon for the two-point conversion, which cut it to 22-11 with 3:45 left in the third. Terrence Campbell then ran 13 yards for a touchdown with 12:40 to play, and Hamel's kick made it 22-18. Nobody scored again.
The stats say Rhode Island should have won. The Rams outgained the Aggies 398 yards to 303 and ran for 200 yards to 164. But they gave the ball away four times (two interceptions and two lost fumbles) against one interception from A&T, and one of those fumbles went the other way for six. The Aggies also had three sacks on defense.
A&T is 1-3 and takes a win it will not apologize for. Rhode Island is 2-2. On the fantasy side it was a game for backs: Campbell was the best of the day with 16.2 points, Winowich added 12 and White, the quarterback, got 11.8 despite throwing for 139 yards and an interception.